Malawi education minister hails engineers at Prof Kululanga lecture

Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology Vincent Ghambi has emphasized the important role engineers have towards Malawi’s sustainable socio-economic development.

Malawian first engineering professer: Kululanga

Ghambi made the remarks Thursday morning in Blantyre during the University of Malawi’s 18th Inaugural Lecture by Polytechnic’s Principal, Professor Grant Kululanga.

The lecture was held under the theme “Challenges of Engineering and the way forward for developing countries: The case of Malawi”.

And deputy minister Ghambi said engineers were pillars behind the success of every country, and that Malawi valued the key role the engineering sector rendered.

“The role of engineers is not limited to infrastructures but extend to water, irrigation, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Mining among others.

“Engineers are creators, designers and government will make sure that the industry should receive necessary attention in order to achieve both local and international standards.

He added: “Government shall make sure that more resources are channeled towards engineering sector as witnessed by government decision to make all sciences sujects compulsory from the primary level.”

Ghambi noted that Malawi could not fully compete at international level if the engineering market was narrow. He also stressed the need for ensuring gender equality in the sector.

The deputy minister then reminded people that government established the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) to meet the growing demand for engineers.

Guest of honour Professor Brown Chimphamba said the priority for the engineering profession was to provide solutions for safe, secure, healthy, productive and decent life for all Malawians.

“The training of engineers and the supporting cadres of the profession as well as investment in science and technology is no longer optional if the country is to have meaningful sustainable interventions.

“In fact the rapid population growth and the associated increased human activities are becoming serious burdens to the country’s environment,” said Professor Chimphamba.-Mana

Good observation and suggestion, this how other countries do it. Alternatively, Poly should just be developing products and market them. For example, affordable water pumps, mini hydro engines that could power a village or a group of villages, solar panels, agri equipment. Items for which there is obvious demand and need, the market students at Poly can identify the areas. Our universities should be proactive not reactive.

There is a difference between an associate professor and professor,. Dr Mhango was an associate professor making Dr Kululanga the first professor. For your information even Matthews Chikaonda is not a full professor but an associate professor.

Correction: A professor is a title that one holds at with an academic or research institution. It is like Chief, Senior, Principal Officers. Once somebody leaves these institutions they are supposed to leave these titles. They are called professor emeritus. What remains after leaving are titles like Dr etc. So it is not wrong to still address people like Chimphamba, Chikaonda etc as professors. These are professor emerit.

Congratulations are in order to Professor Grant Kululanga for the feat achieved.It is hoped he will fight for conducive environment for engineers to transform their knowledge to practical use.The `west` has and continues to brainwash and indoctrinate Malawians in many spheres of our life as is the case with the rest of Africa.We are fatally trapped as slavery continues. It is plain to see that in Malawi there is a huge gap between knowledge gained by scholars and transformation of such knowledge into practical use.This is working against the objective of technology,which is to improve peoples’ quality of life. For… Read more »

Grant Kululanga is not the FIRST Engineering Professor as erroneously reported by the reporter of this article. We had Professor George Mhango who was also Head of Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnic in early 90s. Reporters need to check records or ask people with institutional memory to write credible information. I however congratulate Professor Grant Kululanga for this rare achievements

Mbava iyi. Failing to develop Poly. He’s involved in a lot of malpractices and that lady is in total control of the college. Poly needs an administrator as engineers have no eyes and brains for management. This is the most undeveloped of all the constituent colleges of UNIMA.

You don’t care about the university yet Dr. Emmanuel Fabiano spent his entire life at Chancellor College driving the once formidable Peugeot 504 with Dr. Chokhoto while John Kalenga Saka was simply walking to work before he bought a Toyota Corolla 4K.